WESTPORT LETTER.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7381, 6 August 1889, Page 2

WESTPORT LETTER.

[fbo-c oub cobrespondbnt.] WESTPORT, Jolym The chief item of local interest thh week has been the announcement that the Westport Coal Company are about to reopen their Wellington mine. This" ia situated at the foot of the hill on which their present mine is situated, and close to the railway leading to their Incline. In tact the Wellington seams cron out on both sides of the railway and quite close to it, and can therefore be worked very conveniently. This mine was formerly abandoned because the coal was found 80 be too Boft and friable for household -nd steam purposes, but now that a demand is arising for this class of coal for cote making purposes the Company have decided to resume working It. They also contemplate erecting coke ovens at Wat mangaroa. It is likely enough also that hard coal may be reached underneath. Second only in importance to this is the further intimation that a party of local men have leased 75 acres of ground behind Waimangaroa, with the view of establishing a brickfield there. The lease contains large deposits of very fine clay resembling tenra-cotta clß_* and when mixed with a due proportion ot sand, also obtainable in the neighbourhood, can be made Into excellent bricks, I have seen samples of these and they are of first rate quality. The company intend to work the business with the best appliances and expect to be in ft position to Bupply orders within six months. There is already a sufficient demand here to keep them going, and the consumption is likely to be largely increased. At present bricks are ased here only for chimneys, but coke manufactories will require a large quantity for their ovens, and they may also oe used in house building, now that they are cheaper. Tiles and drain pipes could also be made, and even pottery and terra-cofcta blocks for building purposes, as the clay is fine enough for any purpose. This undertaking will likely give employment to a good number of men before long, and will be a great advantage to the district generally. - ■ ■ I think I mentioned last week that two flax mills are also to be started at Waimangaroa. Tenders have Just beea called for the construction of a water race for one of them. I am sorry to say that; trouble wears, to be brewing again between the Hasrbour contractors and their men at the Caps Foulwind Quarries. A large meeting ol Union men was held there on Wednesday night. These complained that the <SQB« tractors employed "blacklegs" in preference to them for overtime work, ana>al the meeting referred to, they resolved-to inform Messrs Wilkie Bros., that taey would strike if any besides Union men were employed, and that If the contractors wished to employ any of the stranger9,,thfl men who were selected most first join tvUnion. Delegates were appointed ,wf waited upon Messrs Wilkie Bros, new morning, who promised that they wos» employ all working men belonging to she Union at once, and would do all theycotuo to comply with the demands of the VtaSßf The strike is therefore averted in tn« meantime. , The Labour Union movement so recently organized on this Coast, and I understand almost unknown in other parts of we colony, is rapidly assuming very formffr able dimensions, and Its backers are hiKf suing a policy of active propagandism. They announce their intention of eatSe* liahfng branches all over the colon?, tm that, in this quarter, at least, t_ey.wMi endeavour to secure that no contracts shall in future be taken on a basis of lata than 10s a day for wages. This. as o»___S the speakers at the recent meeting points* l out, would not matter to contractors, woo would fix their tenders accordingly, -i" would come out of the pociketavOl-W» general public, including the workm*** themselves, 1 Who, If the rise were general. would after all gain only a part of W nominal increase in their pay. This l»_ subject of intense interest to a K*""«s» district, because it affects the PowWUA or otherwise ot new industries, and• wfg are many branches of would pay here and employ »I**s®-**!!_; tion, if the wages were lower than tw are. On the other hand the working ffli? are the main strength of a v'ommtmltfjjn" what injures them, injures all. the rate of wages Is 10s a day all over «» world our industrial progress here wm *» proportionate to our natural resouwe* »» Fs the difference of rate that does therm* chief, and the places where the was** advance first surfer for It. l i* t Mr Brown, from Sydney, who faWg just now on business connected wMnsfNgakawan and Port Pirie coal trade, has been asked to give evmea«*«| fore the Parliamentary present enquiring into the .wndWJJJ the West Coast coal-fields and wffl&IJJ; less contribute a good deal of valuable»» formation bearing on the robjeek . The Buller Coal Company 1* HwJyJ&S the next undertaking of the WSLS get under weigh here. Their Vm Idjoins that of the Westport Cg Company, and contains some ol! seamY in the district some of &wj&™ I feet in thickness. An incline ol »gffi wiHberequiredtoconnectthemlne«wg present railway. At the last meetfogc"" Nelson Land Board, the J>ro granted the extension of the time in Wl«g the extraction of coal I? eo " 3 P new arrangement being that » quantity must be put out mthln tWJ*f»» trom the Ist January ne*fe. M M A large hotel is about to be built >t*K Richard Cox, at the -° rfc & £ n L£sloefl* This makes the nineteenth of the kind In Westport. |to be plenty of business for £*™*M \ we are beginning to feel the benefit #* license fee* in the improvement «•« Bt Abrisk attack is just now MM ■$/ in our local press, upon the system, which has reached a, prepo*er. j stage iii this q-axter, an absurd figure and I«^ i *j2JgL to debts, not affording the dealers themselves. is beginning to be introduced, "•_*__ , andirisr^sslblethatagKatlmi^veni^ may soon take place..Tbe !>*»•■, ttoS a of affairs diverts a l^ fchcSocal "torekeepers, consumers get their soppUes «**», ~,?i I where.